Science teacher Jeffrey Klein recently made the decision to depart from Steinbrenner High School on September 12, 2014. Within a week’s notice, the anatomy instructor packed his bags and left for New York City. However, his reasoning for leaving may be surprising to some students.
“I’m back up North right now because I was given the opportunity to volunteer for a year at the World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses and from a personal perspective, that is my faith,” said Klein.
Having been offered a multitude of other opportunities, including but not limited to attending chiropractic school, as well as joining an online public health program, he was accepted to at George Washington University, Klein plans to cater to these other once in a lifetime opportunities following the conclusion of his time at the World Headquarters of Jehova’s Witnesses.
“I love teaching and I couldn’t dream of teaching anywhere but here, my short tenure at Steinbrenner has been amazing. I love the school and it’s the place I would teach at if I was to teach again and to my amazement, everyone here has been so supportive, especially Ms. King and the department head Ms. Eisenhower. They know I have personal goals outside of my profession. They want to see me succeed,” said Klein.
He doesn’t know exactly where he’ll be and emphasizes to students that he doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up because he doesn’t feel he’ll be grown up to the point where he’ll no longer be changing as a person. Almost against the typical doctrine instilled in schools today where teachers encourage kids to have an idea of what they want to be in order to excel after their high school years.
“I want to always have some sort of place to grow, some goal to set, some way that I could possibly change and transform and metamorphose into something new and I feel that’s something that I’ll always do.”
Klein has resided in Florida since his high school years and when asked about his thought on going back to New York he expressed how all the while he’s focusing on the future.
“I’m thinking about tomorrow and I’m thinking about the day after that and I can’t think too far down the line because so much has changed when I came here, I intended on staying here especially when I realized how great of a school this was. I was resolved in my heart to stay here…I’m in this period of transition all of a sudden, I’m not thinking about what’s going to happen a year from now because the past month has been a complete change for me.”
When it comes to his science students, Klein is fully aware his absence will greatly affect them, adding he’d suffered insomnia for a whole week, preoccupied by weighing his options. However, in the end Klein’s religious obligations overcame his teaching ones and the now former science instructor is embarking on a whole new chapter of his life in the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple.
Ricardo Morales/Graphics Department
